^ Haman being offended with Mordecai, as if it had been but leane and weak revenge to spit his spight upon one person, hated all the Jewes for Mordecai's sake : the mad Beare stung with one Bee, would needs throw downe the whole Hive. But cleane con- trarie, Naomi had so graciously demeaned her selfe, that Euth for her sake is fallen in love with all the Jewes.^
^ Thomas Fuller.
RUTH I. i6, 17 229
^ The sentiment enthusiastically responded to by the human instincts of a Eoman audience, even in Eome's most corrupt days, has yet to be extended and applied by Christian England to inter- national interests. We are a nation, and nothing that concerns other nations do we deem foreign to us. Through good and evil report to this principle we must firmly adhere, if we would have our claim of " teaching the nations how to live " held for more than an idle boast. It is not enough that we have established, and are resolute to further and maintain, our own freedom and nationality. Our wishes and endeavours must tend to secure the same blessings for other countries. As no man will reach heaven who seeks to reach it alone, so no nation will ever develop the highest and most enduring forms of national life, while it is con- tented to remain the passive and uninterested spectator of the onward and upward struggles of kindred peoples. A recluse tribe is as anomalous as a single anchorite.^
There are two good thoughts here.
(1) The influence of true friendship does not end with the friend : the love drawn forth is not confined to the one who draws it forth. Every true and ennobling love that is kindled within us, while it finds its focus in the friend that kindled it, casts a warm glow over all those who are associated with that friend. I have loved a nation for the sake of one man in the nation. I have loved to look at the son of a great man whom I have honoured and loved ; I have loved to look at the house where he lived ; the paths which he walked, the books that he wrote, everything that appertained to him became more sacred to me for the love I bore him. A great, loving personality draws out our love not only towards himself, but towards his people.
(2) Those who are striving to serve the Lord should cling to those who are the disciples of the same Master. The law of dependence, as it acts upon this world of human beings, and resolves itself into other laws of influence and sympathy, is found in all the relations of man. In itself it is a beautiful thing, this leaning of one upon another, this clasping of hand with hand in the great circle of human brotherhood, and feeling the electric spark, as the touch of a single finger sends a thrill through the multitude.
In every pause Of labour, when the labourer looked upon
^ C. W. Stubbs, Ood cmd tJie People, 118.
230 A WOMAN'S CHOICE
His fellow, such endearing sympathy,
Such union in discipleship shone through
The lovely lattice of his loving soul,
That each exchange of glances seemed a swift
And mutual sacrament.^
4. " And thy God my God." Euth was not content to be a secret idolater in the Lord's land, as too many are. She might have gone with Naomi, and been introduced into the Israelitish society, and yet all the while, in the secret shrine of her heart, have been worshipping her old gods.
Again there are two thoughts here.
(1) There are some people in the world who are called " Christian " — and we do not doubt their Christianity, we only call into question their consistency — who would drive us away from God, if we had not this Book and God's own Spirit to guide us. There is a piety abroad that is repellent ; and if we had no other light than the light which their example gives, we would say, "Give us any God rather than theirs." There are others who, as they charm us by their spirit of meekness and gentleness, of truth and of grace, as well as by their strength and courage, make us exclaim, " Oh, that their God may be our God ! " Judson the missionary died; other missionaries laboured after him ; but those who knew Judson did not want to hear of any other God than Judson's God. That is to be a living epistle, known and read of all men.
(2) Love between man and man, parent and child, or between husband and wife, can reach its highest and fullest attainment only when cemented by love to God. It may not be absolutely wrong for a man to marry an unbeliever, but we have known many homes unhappy through lack of agreement on religious subjects. To be sure, all so-called Christian homes are not happy, but, other things being equal, the husband and wife whose love is centred on something great and noble above and outside of themselves will love each other more, and live more happily together. It is a principle of psychology, as well as a fact of human experience, that the highest friendship is formed not by the love two persons have for each other, but in the common love both have for something else. And what greater else can there